1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for operating a server for an RFID reader and a method for operating an RFID reader, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for operating a server for an RFID reader by using both a simple network management protocol (SNMP) command language (or an instruction word) and a reader management/reader protocol (RM/RP) command language, and a method for operating an RFID reader.
2. Description of the Related Art
An RFID technique has been advanced with the use of various levels of software solutions, including a hardware technique of an RFID reader device that identifies and collects RFID tag data and a middleware technique that receives the TAG data collected by the RFID reader device, generates an event, and provides it to multiple user application solutions.
Software techniques used for managing the RFID reader device have been standardized on the basis of diverse de facto standards and international standards. However, each standardization technique has a limitation in its technique, making it difficult to effectively manage an RFID reader, thus requiring the use of a supplementary non-standard technique in conjunction to complement (offset?) the limitation.
Currently, an RFID reader management technique includes a reader management (RM) and a reader protocol (RP) proposed by the de facto standard EPCglobal and a simple network management protocol (SNMP)-based management technique proposed by ISO/IEC 24791-3, an international standard technique. The RM/RP and SNMP standard techniques provide substantially the same function, which are, thus, admitted as mutually alternative techniques allowing either the RM/RP or the SNMP to be chosen to be used in the RFID reader management technique.
However, the RM/RP has command languages, each having a form able to access a single variable of an RFID reader, so when a server intends to store all the types of configuration information regarding the RFID reader (e.g., the name of the RFID reader, the address of the RFID reader, a detailed description of the RFID reader, the number of antennas of the RFID reader, and the like), the server must access all of the variables (of a total of more than about 300 variables) one by one, increasing the number of messages and prolonging a configuration time.
In case of the SNMP-based management technique, a management information base (MIB) is configured on the basis of the SNMP. With this method, when information regarding record rows made up of a plurality of records is retrieved, there is no way to know about the number of record rows. Thus, a GetNext message is used to determine the number of record rows, which, however, disadvantageously increases the amount of messages. In addition, the SNMP-based management technique does not provide a function of generating or deleting records of a record row, which, thus, requires a method for complementing the function.
In short, the RM/RP causes an excessive amount of data traffic, and the SNMP lacks the ability of generating or deleting a record row. In addition, the use of the RM/RP and the use of the SNMP inevitably bring about the necessity of using a non-standard command language in order to complement their problems.